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Moving Data

Okay...so here goes..I'm trying to figure out the BEST way to move our entire Peachtree data from an old server to a new server so we can get rid of the need to use two separate systems. When the "people" came to set all this up 2+ years ago -- I wasn't here then -- they didn't move this data... and I have yet to be able to find out why. According to people here in this office (we are a small office) they "couldn't" move it (old OS to new OS) -- however I've been able to create a link from the new OS to the data on the old system, so I don't know what they meant by they couldn't. Needless to say.. the old computers are like from the stoneage and are ready to die and this information has got to be moved. ANY SUGGESTIONS?

All Comments

Generally speaking ...

I don't have experience with the Peachtree software but I thought that I could present a couple of possibilities that are generally applicable to software migrations.

Since you have created a link on the new machine to the file on the old system then it seems like you are using the old system like a simple file server. If it wasn't possible to move this/these file(s) then maybe it has something to do with the old OS file structure. Let's say that your old system has Windows 95 and it uses FAT16 file system. Maybe the Peachtree data wouldn't convert to FAT32 or NTFS or whatever is on the new machine. It's just an idea. This would be most likely if the Peachtree software had its own file manipulation driver that runs at the kernel level, or its own disk partition management driver also running at the kernel level.

You might be able to gain some insights into the restrictions on migrating the software and data to newer systems by reading the system requirements of the Peachtree software. Maybe the Peachtree software has its own proprietary drivers for something that don't work on newer OSes. The most likely candidate for this sort of thing would be the disk drives. I know that Sybase on Solaris has its own drivers for the disk drives. You don't have to use them but they are there. If that's the case on your system then maybe the version of Peachtree that you have doesn't come with a disk driver for newer OSes. Possible solutions might include upgrading the Peachtree software. A newer version of Peachtree might have something that the old version does not have which would make the newer version work on newer OSes. I think that this idea has a lot of potential for being the problem.

I'd be surprised if the old machine is likely to "die" soon. If it is old then it is lower performance than new hardware. Lower performance comes from wider tolerances. Older equipment is likely to have a longer useful life span than new equipment because of the wider tolerances of the old equipment. This is true of silicone parts as well as moving parts. It's like the difference between an automobile for the consumer market and an automobile to race. The race car breaks faster because of the narrower tolerances required to achieve the high performance. Parts just wear out faster on the race car. Even so you could try to move all of the software, OS and application and data, to new hardware. This could also help you start on a disaster recovery plan. Apparently right now if the old equipment did die then you would have to figure out what to do. You may as well figure it out now. Maybe it would enable to you to make the migration to the newer hardware or you may find out that you need a new version of the application.

THANKS

Thank you... you gave me some things to think about and check into. The idea that the old computers will die soon comes from their not wanting to shut down and a variety of other problems. They are still running Win98 vs our WinXP on the new systems. I don't know about their "history" as everyone in the office (6 other people not including myself) don't know much about computers,servers,software ANYTHING!! The IT people that "helped" out here did it I think to "help out"....the server room (not to mention the configuration of the server) is a mess! I'm taking everything in stride and BREATHING deeply while I wade through everything... :) Thanks again.

Check with the Peachtree folks

Peachtree is still around - owned by Sage now: www.peachtree.com. You're probably running a really old version, and that may have something to do with why it wasn't moved. For example, if the version you're running was designed for Win98, it may not even run on WinXP, and that may be why it wasn't moved. I would recommend contacting Peachtree support and discuss with them whether you can upgrade, how to go about it, etc. IMO that would be a safer way to go than just trying to move something without any knowledge of the software and database design.

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